Laser beams in high energy physics

Back-scattered ruby laser light from energetic electrons has facilitated a family of bubble chamber experiments in the interactions of highly polarized and quasi-monochromatic photons up to 10 GeV with 4π acceptance at the 100 to 200 event/μb level. Further studies of this sort demand the use of high-repetition-rate track chambers. To exploit the polarization and energetic purity intrinsic to the back-scattered beam one must achieve nearly two orders of magnitude increase in the average input optical power, and preferably also higher quantum energies. Prospects for this technique and its applications given modern laser capabilities and new accelerator developments are discussed